Ich or Something Else?

[Ghostriderphoto]

Last week I noticed little white dots on my baby oscars left pectoral fin. I upped the temp to 86 and added salt. This happened right after I moved him from a 10g quarantine tank into his 50g permanent home. He was flashing and opening his mouth wide to push water through his gills. He looks much better now, but still a little uncomfortable.

This may have transferred to my koi tank. They started flashing as well, but I don't see any white spots on them. I upped their temp and added salt on them as well. Can you have ich and flashing without spots on the fins?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

It is possible that ich is just in the gills. Unless you see the spots, IMO, you don't really need to worry. Keep an eye on your koi for signs of gasping or, of course, the ich spots. I would turn the temperature down. Koi and goldfish don't handle high temperatures as well as tropical fish. To treat ich on them you use just salt because they can hadle higher amounts. 0.3% salt solution is enough to cure ich on goldfish and koi.

 

[Ghostriderphoto]

Good to know... I will turn down the temp on the koi... What temp do you recommend?

They seem to get a little skittish when I add the salt after a water change. I have to do daily water changes on these guys because they are in too small of an aquarium and the nitrates build too high in just 24 hours. I am digging a 4'x6'x2.5' pond to put them in where I can treat them easier and they will hopefully be less stressed. When they are better... They will go to their new home. I was supposed to only have them for a week till my coworker could come pick them up... That was supposed to be today... Not with ich... Coworker has no QT.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

They are fine at room temperature. I had a similar situation with a fancy in a 10g tank for 2 months. Daily water changes suck. What I did was drain the amount of water needed, fill buckets will all the water needed to replace what I took out, measure out the salt and divide it evenly throughout the buckets of water, stir to dissolve, then add it to the 10g tub the fish was in. By doing it that way there was no high or low concentrations of salt.

 

[Ghostriderphoto]

They are fine at room temperature. I had a similar situation with a fancy in a 10g tank for 2 months. Daily water changes suck. What I did was drain the amount of water needed, fill buckets will all the water needed to replace what I took out, measure out the salt and divide it evenly throughout the buckets of water, stir to dissolve, then add it to the 10g tub the fish was in. By doing it that way there was no high or low concentrations of salt.

How long does it take for the salt to kill the ich? Does it take longer than combining heat with it? These 2 koi are 8" and 10" and shoot the nitrate levels to 20+ ppm in 24-30 hours. The lowest I have had the tank is 40g because of the added filtration system.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

A couple of weeks it takes. The salt actually kills the ich at such a high concentrations unlike the heat only method used for tropicals that only stops reproduction. I should mention I was treating bacterial septicemia on my fish not ich

 

[Ghostriderphoto]

A couple of weeks it takes. The salt actually kills the ich at such a high concentrations unlike the heat only method used for tropicals that only stops reproduction. I should mention I was treating bacterial septicemia on my fish not ich

It just gets me that I don't see any spots on them. Is flashing part of koi behavior? Do they do it when they play or get excited?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Honestly I don't know. I've never seen a koi other than in pictures. They are illegal in my state. Fish can flash for other reasons. Water conditions can cause it. The fact they are in a small space and the nitrate rises quickly could be causing it.

 

[Ghostriderphoto]

Honestly I don't know. I've never seen a koi other than in pictures. They are illegal in my state. Fish can flash for other reasons. Water conditions can cause it. The fact they are in a small space and the nitrate rises quickly could be causing it.

I'm digging right now to put in a quick pond for them... Hoping it helps and makes keeping them easier until I know they are healthy to join my friends community pond... Hopefully soon! They are a lot of work in small water areas...